Refrigerated display cabinet



Aug. 30, 1932. A. LAMBERT ,37

REFR I GERATED DISPLAY CABINET Filed May l3. 1931 ZSheets-Sheet 1 .1 HINVENTOR 45 A/beh? L. Zgmerf BY 9 ATTORNEY Aug. 30, 1932. A. L. LAMBERT REFRIGERATED DISPLAY -cmsms'r Filed May 1:5. 19:31

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR A/berf Llamberf 4 BY 7 ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 30, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ALBERT L. LAMBERT, F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, flSSIG-NOR T0 H-E-INTZ EMAN- UFACTU'RING COME-ANY, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA REFRIGERATED DISPLAY CABINET Application filed May 13,

This invention relates to improvements in refrigerated display cabinets and is more particularly directed to a cabinet adapted to be kept at a very low temperature.

An object of this invention is the provision in a refrigerated display cabinet, of a series of sections of evaporators adapted to serve as shelf supports, so located within the cabinet that the view of the interior from outside is comparatively unobstructed.

Another object of the invention is the provision of shelves supported by a series of evaporator sections which when in their normal positions act as extensions of the evaporator and facilitate the refrigeration of articles or foods placed thereon.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of shelf supports on the evaporator sections so arranged that any or all shelves may be removed, defrosted outside of the cabinet and returned thereto clear of frost.

This is an important feature as heretofore the defrosting necessitated the cutting off of the refrigeration and allowing the temperature of the evaporator to rise to a temperature above the melting point of ice, an operation requiring several hours.

WVith the advent of frozen foods the low temperature must be maintained in the cabinet and a rise in temperature suflicient to defrost all of the metal parts would seriously impair the quality of the frozen foods, but by taking out shelves and defrosting them outside, the temperature of the cabinet is not materially increased and the quality of the foods is not affected.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of suitable storage trays or containers in the lower part of the cabinet for holding additional frozen foods accessibly for replenishing the shelves as the goods thereon are sold or removed.

These storage trays contact with the evaporator sect-ions and form part of the radiating surfaces thereof.

A further object of the invention is the provision of louvered plates between the upper and lower part of a refrigerated cabinet adapted to further cool the air passing from the upper part of the cabinet to the lower 1931. Serial No. 536,989.

part. These louvered plates are supported by and form part of the radiating surface of the evaporator, but are readily removable therefrom for defrosting. v

Another object of the invention is to provide adequate insulation in a refrigerated display cabinet to economically carry the very low temperatures required and to arrange the doors thereof so that a minimum of cold is lost when they are opened in use.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is an elevation, partly in section, of the improved display cabinet;

Figure 2 is. a sectional view of the cabinet along the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side view of one form of shelf supporting evaporator;

Figure at is an end view of the evaporator shown in Figure 8;

Figure 5 is a view of another form of shelf supporting evaporator;

Figure 6 is an isometric view showing how the shelf supports are secured to the evaporator; and

Figure 7 is a View of a louvered plate support with one of the plates in position shown in cross-section.

A. suitable cabinet 10, has an upper compartment l1 and a lower compartment 12. The upper compartment is used for display purposes and the lower compartment for storage.

It will be noted that there is an opening between the upper compartment 11 and the lower compartment 12. This opening allows cold air to pass from the compartment 11 into the compartment 12 and it may be made of any desired cross sectional area, depending upon the rate of flow of air desired.

Triple glass panels 13 are provided so that the interior of the upper compartment 11 may be viewed from the outside. Doors 14, having triple glass panels 15 therein, are provided on the side of the chamber opposite the triple glass panels 13 so that the salesman may open the same to remove the goods displayed therein. These doors are preferably hinged at the bottoms thereof so that the tops can be swung outward. The lower compartment 12 has doors 16 communicating therewith for access to the storage compartment. These doors are preferably hinged at the bottom, one hinge 17 being shown. These doors have, on each end, closure plates 18 so arranged that when the door is opened the closure plates prevent cold air from leaking out of the compartment on each side of the opened door. i

The evaporator, generally designated as 19, consists of a plurality of vertical sections of pipe 20 having cross arms 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25, made integral therewith, and having'all of the interiors thereof communicating. These sections are connected on their upper ends by a pipe 26 and on their lower ends by another pipe 27. This evaporator is placed in a cabinet as shown in Figure 1 and is secured thereto by clamps 28.

Suitable unions 58 are provided for connecting'the upper ends of the sections 20 to the expansion pipe 26, and unions 58 are provided for connecting the lowerends of the sections to the suction or return pipe 27, for convenience in assembling the sections in the cabinet 10. These unions may be secured together in any suitable manner such as by bolts 59.

The cross arms are provided with suitable clamps 29 which comprise shelf supports and consist of upper and lower halves 30 and 31 respectively. These are in the form of semicircles. The upper half 30 has flanges 32 and 33 extending therefrom in opposite directions and the lower half 31 has flanges 34 and 35 extending therefrom in opposite directions. These flanges 34 and 35 are substantially longer than, and extend beyond, the flanges 32 and 33 when in position on the cross arm, and are adapted to form supports for the shelves 36. These clamps are secured to cross arms in any suitable manner such as bolts 37.

' The clamps 29*, on the end sections of the evaporator 19 adjacent the end walls of the cabinet, extend only in one direction from the cross arms thereof and are preferably made in one piece with the lower flanges extending beyond the upper flanges to support the shelves 36.

The shelves 36 are preferably of metal and should have good conductivity.

Refrigeration may be supplied by. any suitable means and the end 38 of the pipe 26 is connected to an expansion valve of a refrigerating machine and a refrigerant, expanding into the pipe 26 and the sections 20 with their cross arms 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25, produces refrigeration therein and returns via pipe 27 to the suction side of the refrigerating machine.

The suction or return pipe 27, where it passes through the insulation 61 of the cabi net 10, may be sealed in with any suitable material 62, and where it extends outside of the box a suitable insulating cover 63 is provided therefor.

The shelves 36 are refrigerated by the cross arms 21, 22 and 23, via the clamps 29 by conduction.

The cross arms 25 with their clamps 29 thereon support storage trays or pans 39 which are preferably of metal. These storagetrays are refrigerated in two Ways, they receive refrigeration Via their bottoms by virtue of being in contact with the clamps 29 on the cross arms 25, and cold air falls into the trays from the louvered plates 40 supported'on the cross arms 24., 'lhecross arms 24 are preferably located in the opening 60, which comprises a cold air duct between the upper and the lower compartment, to further cool the air, passing therethrough.

Suitable louvers 64 may be provided in the storage trays 39 to facilitate the circulation of cold air therein.

The louvered plates 40 are supported on the cross arms 24 by clamps 41 which consist of upper halves 42 and lower halves 42. The upper half 42 has an upwardly extending slanted channel 43 and the lower half 42* has a downwardly extending channel 44 so arranged that it lines up with the channel 43. The end of the channel 44 is bent at 45 to prevent the plate 40 from sliding down wardly.

After a time these shelves, louvered plates and trays become so heavilycoated with frost that refrigeration is retarded and this frost must be removed to obtain efiicient operation. Heretofore the practice has been to stop the refrigeration and allow the temperature of the interior of the cabinet and all metal parts therein to rise to the temperature of melting ice so that this frost will melt off of the shelves and other parts.

This has great disadvantages in that the temperature of the foods in the cabinet is raised and the quality thereof is thus impaired, and also, a lot of refrigeration is lost by this method of defrosting, and the operation takes several hours.

With the improved arrangement covered by this invention, defrosting is accomplished in a very simple and effective manner, namely by removing the shelves, louvers or trays, singly, and defrosting them outside of the cabinet. For example, the foods on the upper shelves could be transferred to shelves lower down and the upper shelves removed from the cabinet, defrosted and placed back in the cabinet. They are then completely freed of frost and a few minutes thereafter are again cold and the food may be placed thereon without reducing the temperature or impairing the quality thereof. In the same manner the rest of the shelves, plates or trays may be defrosted.

An alternate form of evaporator construction is shown in Figure 5 wherein the section 20 instead of being a vertical pipe with con municatin cross arms, the pipe is bent with a series of curves 46, 47, 48, 49, 50 and 51, with straight horizontal sections 52, 58, 54, 55, 56 and 57 respectively therebetween, in which case the clamps 29 would be secured to any desired horizontal section. These sections may be mounted in the cabinet in a similar manner and their upper ends connected by pipe 26, and their lower ends connected by the pipe 27 as hereinbefore described.

This method of making the evaporators and the method of supporting the shelves thereon gives a very neat form of construction, the view of the articles on display is unobstructed, and with the shelves supported in this manner in heat exchange relation to the evaporator they actually become part of the evaporator system and act as finned extensions of the same, conducting heat thereto and radiating cold therefrom.

What is claimed is:

1. In a refrigerated display cabinet, an evaporator comprising a plurality of vertical sections having cross arms communicating therewith, shelf supports secured to said cross arms, and shelves supported thereon in heat exchange relation thereto.

2. In a refrigerated display cabinet, an upper compartment, a lower compartment, a cold air duct between said upper and said lower compartments, an evaporator in said cabinet comprising a plurality of vertical sections each of which has one or more cross arms in each of said compartments, supports on said cross arms, shelves on said sup ports in the upper compartment, storage trays on said supports in the lower compartment, and doors in said cabinet so arranged that said shelves and said trays may be re moved therefrom.

In a refrigerated display cabinet, an upper compartment, a lower compartment, a cold air duct between said compartments, an evaporator in said cabinet comprising a plu rality of vertical sections having a plurality of cross arms in each of said compartments, supports on said cross arms shelves on said supports in the upper conipartment, storage trays on lower supports in the lower compartment, and louvered plates on supports in said lower compartment adjacent said duct.

4. In a refrigerated display cabinet, an upper compartment, a lower compartment, a cold air duct between said compartments, an evaporator in said cabinet comprising a plurality of vertical sections having a plurality of cross arms in each of said compartments, supports on said cross arms, shelves on said supports in the upper compartment, storage trays on lower supports in the lower compartment, louvered plates on supports between said shelves and said storage trays, doors in said cabinet having glass panels therein for access to said shelves, and doors for access to said storage compartment. g

5. Ina refrigerated display cabinet, an upper compartment, a lower compartment, a cold air duct between said compartments, an evaporator in said cabinet comprising a plurality of vertical sections having .a plurality of cross arms in each of said compartments, supports on said cross arms, shelves on said supports in the upper compartment, storage trays on lower supports in the lower compartment, louvered plates on supports be .tween said shelves and said storage trays, doors in said cabinet having glass panels therein for access to said shelves, and doors for access to said storage compartment, said last doors having closure plates adapted to prevent cold leakage from said cabinet when opened.

6. In a refrigerated display cabinet, an upper compartment, a lower compartment, a lCOlCl air duct between said compartments, an evaporator in said cabinet comprising a plurality of vertical sections have a plurality of cross arms in each of said compartments, supports on said cross arms, shelves on said supports in the upper compartment, storage trays on lower supports in the lower compart' ment, louvered plates on supports adjacent to said duct, doors in said cabinet having glass panels therein for access to said shelves, and doors for access to said storage compartment.

7 In a refrigerated display cabinet, an upper compartment, a lower compartment, a cold air duct between said compartments, an evaporator in said cabinet comprising a plurality of vertical sections having a plurality of cross arms in each of said compartments, supports on said cross arms, shelves on said supports in the upper compartment, storage trays on lower supports in the lower compartment, louvered plates on supports adjacent to said duct, doors in said cabinet having glass panels therein for access to said shelves, doors for access to said storage compartment, all of said doors so arranged that said shelves, trays and plates may be removed from the cabinet, and glass panels in said cabinet opposite said first doors.

8. In a refrigerator cabinet, an evaporator having supporting arms, sloping removable louvered plates in heat conducting contact with said evaporator, the louvers being formed at such an angle with the plane of the plate as to present substantially vertical openings therethrough.

9. In a refrigerator cabinet having an upper and lower compartment, an evaporator in said compartments having laterally extending supporting arms therein and a sloping removable louvered plate in heat conducting contact with said evaporator, said plate being positioned between said compartments, Sfild'lOllVBIS being formed in said plate at such an angle with the plane thereof as to present a verticalopening therethrough.

10. In a refrigerator cabinet having an upper and lower compartment and an opening Jtherebetween, an evaporator common to both said compartments and having a plurality of laterally extending supporting armsiin each compartment, and a sloping removable louvered plate located in the air stream between said compartments and supported in said lateral arms.

11. In a refrigeratorcabinet having an upper and lower compartment and an air passage therebetween, evaporator means including a sloping louvered plate positioned in said air passage.

12. In a refrigerator cabinet having compartments and a vertical passage connecting said compartments, evaporator means positioned in one of said compartments below said passage, said means including supporting arms and a sloping removable louvered plate -in heat conducting contact with said arms,

the louvers in said plate being formed at such. an angle with the plane thereof as to present a vertical opening therethrough whereby air may circulate between the compartments.

13. In a refrigerator cabinet having upper and lower compartments and a passage therebetween and a plurality of sloping louvered plates forming the bottom of said upper compartment and positioned partly with in said passage.

1% In a refrigerator cabinet having an upper compartment substantiallyof pyramidal cross section and a substantially rectangular lower compartment, and a passage between said compartments of lesser width than the widest portion of said top compartment, and a sloping louvered plate having its upper edge within said passage and supported subjacent said passage and within said lower compartment.

In testimony whereof I Ell'ilX my signature.

ALBERT L. LAMBERT. 

